Future shohin Maples

[dansai]

You may be waiting a while. Steven hasn't logged in since march last year.

[evan]

Here's the long awaited update on the project.

For those who don't know me, I've been a long-time friend and "bonsai comrade" of Steven. In 2018, Steven and I begun what we call "Project Shohin", a long-term project aimed at producing high-quality Shohin trees (like the stuff we see in the Japanese Nurseries). Since the projects inception I've taken over the future growing decisions for the original batch of maples in this thread.

Many of the maples were reaching a suitable thickness in relation to the future final height. During 2019-2020, I began to remove the sacrifice branches on some of them, along with starting to ramify and heal over wounds (both new and old). I started grafting ones that were missing lower branches or had larger wounds that required encouragement to heal quicker. I've also made sure to try and repot them every year to further improve nebari, but with the amount of stock I'm growing sometimes they might miss a year of repotting. The growing mix has also changed, with a 50-50 scoria-akadama mix becoming the standard.

The 2020-2021 season was more of the same.

This year (2021-2022) has been a perplexing one for maples though, with the La Nina confusing them as to what season we are actually in. I've had some tridents and Japanese maples that have remained red the entire season (despite the fertiliser I give them or the fungicide I spray them with). I've had some that were cut back hard a few months ago, have developed new buds, but have gone dormant already. And now the autumn colour appearing early due to the bizarre mid-summer cold snaps we've had.

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Most of the Japanese Maples are reaching maturity with the majority of them having 50-70% gray trunks. The lower not-very-twisted ones have become powerful looking sumos. The over-the-top super twisty ones have ended up as more slender graceful trees (usually thinner than their sumo counterparts). Either way, the initial mix of movement Steven did has paid off big time.

I will start transitioning the Japanese Maples that are in refinement stage into smaller pots this year, along with having them in 100% Akadama. I've found that it's difficult to achieve ramification with them in larger pots due to the internodes being too long with all the extra growing space that a larger pot affords.

Most have still only had a few primary branches wired out, with the main method being clip and grow. But once they are in the smaller pots is when I will begin to wire all of the branches on them.

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The Trident Maples are developing just as well as the Japanese Maples. The Tridents tendency to thicken quicker and fuse more easily in comparison to the Japanese Maples has resulted in a more muscled appearance to the over-the-top twisted ones. There's a significant lack of trident sumos from the original batch though. From my experience you need very low sacrifice branches to produce the amazing sumo tridents that you see in Japan. A few of the more recent batches that I've done have been cutback early on to try and achieve this (to great results so far).

Like the Japanese Maples, most of the ones going into refinement will also be put into smaller pots.

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A few of the tridents are also in the process of having lower branches grafted onto them. Because they were packed a little too tightly a few years ago they lost a few of the choice lower buds and branches. I tend to approach graft more than thread graft, a personal preference due to how quick and easy they are to do. I'm also a big fan of using zipties to secure them, something much easier to do on small trees (maybe too easy ).

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And to finish off the update, a few shots of "Project Shohin". All of the stock growing area is caged for security (from both people and wildlife), along with an overhead automatic sprinkler system. We were lucky to acquire all of the benches from a nursery that was going out of business.

When we started in 2018, there was stock nicely spaced out among some of the shelves and other places that were bare. I'm a prolific propagation addict so I quickly filled the space with as much bonsai stock as I could. 4 years later I've finally reached the capacity of the growing area, so I've resorted to using the underbench space for the meantime until we can expand. I long lost count of how many stock trees there are, but my current estimates are around 400.

We're currently growing most of the main Shohin species used in Japan (along with a few rare ones and some Aus natives as well). The main species we're focusing on are Shimpaku Juniper, Black Pine, Trident Maples, Japanese Maples, Kinzu (Dwarf Cumquat), Chinese Quince, Chojubai (Dwarf Japanese Quince, Zelkova, Cotoneaster, Princess Persimmon, Dwarf Rose, Japanese Privet, and Gardenia.

I still order a batch of maple seedlings from Shibui every year (with a goal of doing a minimum of 50). The 2nd and 3rd (and now up to 4th) generation of maple stock is definitely growing/improving at a much quicker rate than the original batch. Most of this is thanks to the experimentation and learning from the mistakes of the original batch.

It's been a long time since the last update, so happy to answer any questions.

[Watto]

Thanks for the update. That is a big project and I'm confident the local bonsai community will benefit greatly.

[Daluke]

Thanks for the update.

I take you pump full of fertiliser?

[evan]

I take you pump full of fertiliser?

Yep, I usually do a solid+liquid feed regime.

My current regime for the growing stock is:

Solid - 'Dynamic lifter' or 'Cyco Outdoor (3-3-3)' in teabags. First application around mid spring. Usually a monthly top up for Black Pines throughout the growing season, and single top up for junipers during March.

The 'Cyco Outdoor (3-3-3)' is a product from hydroponics shops which I started trialling this year (to good results so far). It's a NPK I've been searching for, for a number of years. As most of the available solid fertilisers generally lack substantial amounts of phosphorus.

Liquid - I use a few different liquids on a 2-4 week cycle depending on the time of year. Usually start out with 'Organix Harvest' at the beginning of spring, this is my preferred main fertiliser to use on everything. Start adding 'Black Marvel Rose and Flower' later in spring when things are flowering, usually stop using it end of spring and will give a final hit of it during autumn. And give the occasional High N like 'Miraclegro soluble' during spring/summer if there's a week of cool weather forecasted.

[BirchMan]

Great update Evan. Growing and propagating are a couple of the areas I enjoy the most in bonsai.

I hadn't thought to use wire on any trident trunks (branches - yes) but I will try a few from now.

Shade growing area looks great!

[Keels]

Great update Evan. This original post inspired me to start some shohin maples in 2018. Think i started with 20. Now i only have three worth continuing. I'm still trying to get them to put a little more size on. I found the ones that got wire scars the first year ended up bulking up more than the non wire scars. I actually started trailing callistemons in a similar process as well. They have started to turn out really interestingly. Anyway Keep up the good work

[SquatJar]

It took a while but the update was worth the wait! Some great stock on the way here, well done to you both

[Scott Roxburgh]

Thanks for the update Evan, they are in good hands.

It's good to see the effort being rewarded in the production of good little shohin stock. It's interesting to note that the Japanese maples look a bit further progressed, when I would have thought the trident growth rate would have far outpaced them.

I have seen Japanese nurseries use numerous airlayers to get branches down low as well as grafting. It looks like some will be good candidates for that...although you already have a space issue.

What is more important early wiring or the low branches, or both?

You mentioned you have cut early on some to get low growth, are you taking newly sprouted seedlings in trays or chopping once they have been potted individually?

What is the junk ratio? How many good ones to poor?

...And finally, what do you think these will need to sell for to justify the work that goes into them? Is this an altruistic exercise for the bonsai community or a commercially viable one?

Thanks
Scott

[evan]

What is more important early wiring or the low branches, or both?

Both. The early wiring guarantees you have good primary branching and the low branches leaves you with more options for future. I'm a firm believer in trying to leave as many options as possible for branching in future, even if it means slowing down the thickening of the tree.

You mentioned you have cut early on some to get low growth, are you taking newly sprouted seedlings in trays or chopping once they have been potted individually?

The seedlings I use are usually 1-1.5 years old already, so I'll cut them back when I'm initially wiring+potting them up. I like to cut back to visible buds rather than barewood, then let them shoot back before cutting lower (if there are new lower buds from the initial cutback).

What is the junk ratio? How many good ones to poor?

80% I'd consider good/acceptable quality. My standards are pretty high when it comes to shohin stuff (I've been spoiled over the years), so while they will still make amazing shohin trees they are only missing that "wow" factor that makes me want to keep them.

10% are in the poor quality category. These usually have unattractive trunk movement from the initial wiring, or too much straightness from my own experimentation. These ones will eventually become grafting or air layering candidates to try and improve them.

The remaining 10% are the keepers. They are the trees that draw my eye (have the wow factor), and that I can see the potential to become top-level shohin.

...And finally, what do you think these will need to sell for to justify the work that goes into them? Is this an altruistic exercise for the bonsai community or a commercially viable one?

We want the trees to have already been in the ramification stage for a few years before selling them. The maples from the original batch have only just reached that stage the last year, and are still another 4-5 years before being ready. Going off that timeline, most of them will be 10-12 years old when they are ready for sale. For a "finished" shohin tree I think a price between $300-$600 is fair (particularly when compared to the prices for similar trees in Japan). If I was to properly calculate how much labour/soil/water/fertiliser went into them the starting price would be closer to $500, so this is definitely an altruistic venture.

There's a few goals that are the foundations of the project for me, those being:
- Grow top quality Shohin stock to supply the community.
- Improve the standards of what we consider to be quality Shohin stock.
- Encourage people to start growing their own quality Shohin stock.

The obvious benefit of the whole project is that from the hundreds (or eventually thousands) of stock trees I grow, I'll get to keep the best for myself. Even if that means growing 10000 trees and only keeping 50 of them.

[Daluke]

Are you getting similar results with the other species you are growing?

[evan]

Are you getting similar results with the other species you are growing?

Similar results with some, slightly different approaches with others. I think I'll start a separate thread soon covering the project along with the other species I'm growing.